Kennesaw State University · Georgia
Kennesaw State scholarships and merit aid
KSU rewards ambitious students with honors pathways and a strong international focus.
The short answer
Is Kennesaw State worth a closer look?
We did not find a simple published award list to show for Kennesaw State. Read our full reasoning before spending more time here.
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See costs and school data
Who this school may work for
Students drawn to global experiences, honors college rigor, or elite nursing programs at a large public university will find KSU's merit offerings worth exploring.
Published yearly cost: Approximately $28,318 for 2026-2027. Source
Cost and graduation facts
Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at Kennesaw State, what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.
| Family income | Average net price paid |
|---|---|
| $0–$30,000 | $12,235 |
| $30,001–$48,000 | $12,661 |
| $48,001–$75,000 | $15,185 |
| $75,001–$110,000 | $18,263 |
| $110,001+ | $19,309 |
| All income levels (average) | $15,048 |
Sticker price vs. what students actually pay
- Published tuition & fees (in-state), AY 2022-23
- $5,808
- Published tuition & fees (out-of-state), AY 2022-23
- $17,736
- Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
- $15,048
That works out to roughly a 37% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $24,008 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).
Kennesaw State is a public school; Scorecard's net price figure covers in-state, Title-IV-aid-recipient payers only — there is no comparable federal figure for out-of-state students.
Outcomes for students who enrolled here
- Graduation rate (150% of normal time), 2016 cohort
- 52%
- First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
- 77%
- Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
- $23,833 (~$253/mo on a 10-yr plan)
- Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
- $57,552
- Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
- 44%
- Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
- 37%
See other scholarships and cost examples
More school data
From the Kennesaw State Common Data Set 2024-2025 (school-estimated figures):
At Kennesaw State, roughly 1 in 100 first-year admits receive institutional merit aid. The average award is $1,070 — about 4% of total cost.
As filed in Kennesaw State's CDS Section H2A: of 8,635 first-time, full-time degree-seeking freshmen, 64 had no financial need and received institutional merit (non-need) scholarship or grant aid, averaging $1,070. Across all full-time degree-seeking undergraduates: 250 of 31,278, averaging $1,218. Athletic awards are excluded per the CDS definition.
The 2024-2025 column is marked "estimated" in the school's own CDS filing — school-projected figures, not final audited counts.
Other Kennesaw State scholarships worth checking
These awards can be harder to find. Each one has its own rules.
See sources and other schools
Sources used on this page
Every claim is checked against Kennesaw State’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
- Cost of attendanceKennesaw State cost-of-attendance worksheet
- Scholarship pageBobbie Bailey Foundation Honors Music Scholarship
Compare with similar schools
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- Georgia Tech merit aid. Georgia public university — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.